Hmm... I suppose from a lot of different sources and no specific place in particular?

I always liked robots since the days of playing old-school Mega Man as a kid. I started catching glimpses of steampunk in films like Back to the Future III and the short-lived series Brisco Country Jr. (both are Wild West settings) and then really got into it with Last Exile in 2004. A lot of the elements with Sally I got from Gunslinger Girl, with obvious changes to the tone. But otherwise it's just been me trying to do my own thing, and not be dictated by prevailing trends. I know a lot of steampunk tends to be set in quasi-Europe, and also tends to be, well, all sexy n' stuff, but I'm purposely trying to stand apart from the crowd...!

I'd also mention my desire to make an original comic like this was influenced by the Flight anthology that was headed by Kazu Kibushi. Something about seeing comics that could far exceed the existing 'look' and feel of the mainstream comic industry was the spark I needed to just keep going and not look back.

I've not heard many of those films apart from Back to the Futurebut they do sound interesting! And I like that you are doing a goodstrong sense of non-sexy steam punk as that seems to be about hereand there, yours is nice and traditional to what it is (hoping I've wordedthat correctly!)

Ah, thanks. There's nothing wrong with sex appeal in steampunk, but I get weary of seeing steampunk being reduced to just sex appeal, to the point where steampunk is just 'seasoning' rather than its own a genre.

I feel like I'm at least a ~little~ vindicated when professionals tell me they want to introduce their young kids to my comic and the genre in general.

The "look" of comics being flat colors on black lines (either funnies or superheroes), though I personally grew up on Calvin & Hobbes whose creator Bill Watterson was a huge advocate for rich illustrative style and breaking out of the panel-to-panel format.

Really? D: Smackjeeves has been hard for me to use as well; I can't even read the comments I receive there (!)I don't mean to be so impersonal with folks on that site, but it is a lot less user-friendly than here...